Ex-Interpol chief Meng Hongwei ‘was never close’ to disgraced former security tsar
Source close to Zhou Yongkang’s family dismisses speculation that the two cases are linked
With former Interpol chief Meng Hongwei under investigation in China and the government raising the “pernicious legacy” of disgraced ex-security tsar Zhou Yongkang, there is growing speculation over whether the two cases are linked.
But a source close to Zhou’s family has dismissed the suggestion they are connected.
The Ministry of Public Security on Monday accused Meng, who is also vice-minister of public security, of taking bribes. The investigation is being handled by the National Supervisory Commission, the country’s top anti-graft agency.
Meng’s wife denied bribery allegations against her husband, telling Associated Press that it was just Beijing’s excuse to detain Meng. She also detailed the telephone threats she had received that prompted French authorities to place her under police protection.
Zhou Yongkang was once at the pinnacle of the Communist Party and is the highest ranking politician to be convicted of bribery, amid President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption drive, since 1949.
At the height of his power, Zhou oversaw all of China’s domestic security apparatus, courts and prosecutors. He is now serving a life sentence in a Beijing jail.
